ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a case study featuring the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) syndromic surveillance system, then details the perspective used in approaching the pilot project in public health surveillance. Empirical fieldwork was undertaken in public health departments on county and state level. Following Weir and Mykhalovskiy's call to revitalize empirical sociology of public health, the chapter aims to underline the role of social action, knowledge relations and institutions in redefining public health reasoning and practice, as they are mediated through the use of technologies. The ongoing programmatic shift toward a securitization of public health is deeply inscribed in the recently installed systems of data-driven prediction and the practices those systems enable. An awareness of the implicit bias toward catastrophization and securitization contained in the installed monitoring systems may help to be able to better deliberate on the general reorientation of health as a public good.
